The European Council released a “statement of intent” committing to set a 2035 emissions reduction target for the EU prior to the COP30 international climate conference in November, shortly after lawmakers acknowledged that they will miss the end of September deadline to submit its goal at the conference, as required by the Paris Agreement, as member states have not yet bridged disagreements on key aspects of the EU’s climate ambitions.
While not yet settling on a target, the statement of intent indicated that the EU’s 2035 goal would include a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 66.25% to 72.5% by 2035, on a 2019 basis.
The new goal would form the EU’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. NDCs are national climate action plans presented by each country under the agreement, and are required to be updated every five years with increasingly higher ambition.
The delay in setting a 2035 goal is closely related to extended discussions by member states around proposed changes to the EU Climate Law, and particularly to a proposed goal to reduce emissions by 90% by 2040, which will inform the interim goal.
The 2040 goal was officially proposed by the European Commission in July 2025, alongside several proposed changes to the Climate Law, which sets into legislation the EU goal to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Among the key proposed changes proposed were introducing the ability after 2030 to utilize international carbon credits to achieve a portion of the 2040 target under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and for carbon-intensive industries in the scope of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to use domestic carbon removals for allowances to compensate for residual emissions from hard to abate sectors.
While EU environment ministers were originally set to vote on the 2040 target on September 18, however, member states had not yet reached agreement on key aspects, and discussions are now anticipated to be held in late October at the European Council summit. Among the key points under discussion are the flexibilities introduced by the Commission, including the use of international carbon credits to meet the 2040 goals, the use of domestic carbon credits for the EU ETS, and potential flexibilities for sector level targets.
For the 2035 goal, it remains unclear where the final target will be set, with some countries, such as Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands reportedly pushing for the more ambitious 72.5%, which would align with a linear trajectory to the 2040 goal of 90%, while others, such as Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Hungary favoring the lower-end goal, or the submission of a range instead of a hard target.
Following the issuance of the statement of intent, Lars Aagaard, Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities said:
“Today, all 27 member states came together in support of the statement of intent for the EU’s NDC. We continue to stand united and will speak with one clear voice at the United Nations. It shows a will of the EU and its member states to find solutions in and promote global climate action.”
